Improvement in machines for forming heel-rands



tirant Stura para aan,

SUMNE R` HOLMES, OE NORTH BROOKEIELD, AN DJ OSEPH E. SARGENT', OF MELROSE, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent N0.11`s,432,daavd April 4, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR FORMING HEEL-RANDS.

.The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.-

To allv whom tt may conce/ra.-

declare that the following, taken iii-.connection with the drawing which accompanies and forms part of this spoilication, is a description of our invention suflieient to enable those skilled in the art to" practice it.

To ijll the space at the edge of a boot-heel, between .the top of the heel and the bottom of the sole, a thin narrow welt-strip, called a heel-rand or runner, is inserted. These heel-'runners made from'straight strips of leather, generally about a half to three-quarters of an inch in width, an eighth to a quarter ot' an inch thick on the outer edge, and scarfed or chamfered to a feather edge, (at the inner edge;)'and theyare generally bent to a semicircular 'or heel-shaped form by handduriug the process oia'xiug the heel. I t is not only laborious and troublesome to thus form and apply the runners, but the bends are not uniform or permanent, and while, in heeling boots by rhand, this want of uniformity and ot" rigidity is not particularly objectionable, because fthe hands of the work! man can correct the evil as the nailing progresses, it is a serious obstacleiin nailing heels by machine, `because any displacement of' the heel-runner cannot be easily corrected during the heelingoper-ation.v

In heeling boots and shoes byhand rthe top-lift is slightly tacked to the sole, and then the rand-tbrming stripv is inserted between such lift and the sole, beginning at the center of the strip, (at the rear of the hoch) and then turning it and pressing it into place and racking it down as fast as bent. Now, whilethis is very easy of Ia'ccomplislnnent in building up heel-lifts by hand, it is impractical inmachine-heeling, because the ruimer has to bc nailed upon the top of the marleup heel before `said heel is presented to the action of the heel-nailing mechanism.V

Forming and applying these rands by handfor machine-nailed heels is a very slow and laborious operation; and our invention has reference to a construction or organization of mechanism by".whiehnwelt-shapcd or ohamfered strips, c nt to proper width and thickness, are converted into heel-rauds or runners, uniform in shape, and so crimped and bent'as to receive a permanent set, so that each has merely to be located upon the heel to be nailed'to insure its proper position and union with the heel and sole.

In carrying ont our invention we prefer te employ, in connection with a toothed orperipherally-roughened feed-wheel, a guide-throat leading into and be tween the faces of two wheels or collars, the face of one of which wheels is perpendicular to-the axis of the. driving-shaft upon whichjit is mounted, while the face of the'other wheel is angular' thereto, the normal space between the two `corresponding' radially to a cross-section ofthe runner.' v

The outer or inclined wheel-face isiluted or grooved radially, and said wheel slides upon the shaft, and is pressed up to the other wheel by a strong sp1-ine.

Beyond the feed-wheel a peripheral guard extends partially around and .covers the space between the, edges ofthe wheels. Y

The straight blank to be formed into a wheel-rand or runner` is preferably presented over aI guide-plate and between snitable'gudewalls to the biting action ot' thefeed-wheel, andv as soon as such wheel grasps the strip it crowds it down and feeds it along between the faces of' the two wheels andthe peripheral guard, the action of the wheels and,l guard not vonly causing the strip to assume the requisite semicireular shape, but producing (by the action of the groove-faced wheel) such erimps in-tlle thin edge 'of the strip as will render the bend permanent, it being, oi' course, understood that the strip to be bent into shape is soft and moist or in temper when introduced to the action oi' the machine. y

v It is in this or an analogous or equivalent organization of mechanism that our invention consists.

The drawing representsfa machine embodying the invention.

A shows the machine in side elevation. B is an end view of it. O isa section on the line :c x. Dis a vertical central section of the feed and crimping-wheel. Y E is a view of a heel-rand or runner.

c c denote two stands, in which is journaled a driving-shaft, b, which shaft is geared to and operates a feed-wheel shaft, c, journaled in the opposite ends ot' a'rlever or arm, Il, which is hung at one end upon'a pin, e, and atits other' end works in avertical opening, j, in the front stand, this opening being for the` purpose of permitting adjustment ofthe feed-wheel g by means of a set-screw,V It, which regulates the distance to which the arm or lever can rise.

The feed-wheel is at some distance from the' front of the stand, and directly against the stand is a ring, t, within which is a wheel, k, on the driving-shaft b,

Athe front face ofthe wheel being in line with the front face of the ring. i

l denotes the other wheel on the shaft l), this wheel sliding on the shaft and having a tapering or conical inner face, the wheel l being held up'to the wheel by the stress of a spring, m, and the relation ot the two wheels being such that there is a radial angular space between Vthe two, as seen at 1).

' n denotes a horizontal guide, leading from the outer edge. ot' the ring a', into the space between vthe wheels k l; and

o is a vertical guide-plate, the open space between Vthe ring t' and plate o and over the guidon forming the throat, 4through which the end of the strip is presented to the bite of the feed-wheel, and between the wheels k and l. I,

The strip is pressed down by the feed-wheel g into the angular space between the wheels la Z, and under the 'gripe ofthe three wheels is fed along and passes under the circular guard-plate p, by which it is held between the wheels l, so that, as it emerges at the open-space beneath the wheels, it has acquired, from the action of the rolls, the desired shape seen at E,

the bottom of the guide a being formed angling, as

seen at q, tig. 1, to cause it to act as a stripper in case the runner feeds around to it. The action of the teeth ot the crimping-wheel Z eorrugates the thin part ot thc leather strip, so that it readily bends, while the action of tlie bending and crimping mechanism together establishes the permanent set of the heel-runner or rand.

Instead of having the two wheels or collars I, one fixed, and the other movable on one shaft, there may be two independent shafts in axial line, the ends (or thert'aces ot'wheels at the ends of the two shafts) being brought together, the same as are the two wheels k l, but with no axial or shaft-connection, the two shafts being geared together by a counter-shaft or a feed-wheel shaft. y

Thismodifieation enables heel-rands of very small curvature to be made, as the central core or shaft between the wheels is dispensed with. NVe prefer, however, for general purposes, the specific construct-ion shown, and it, may be here observed that the essence ot' our invention consists in so combining together au edgefeed-wheel and two face-feed wheels or 'feed-surfaces that the strips of leather, upon being presented, are automatically bent and crimped' into form and automatically dischargedfrom the machine, such an organization permitting the heel-lands or runners to be continuously or successively formed without any intervention of hand other than that necessary to pre-- sent the stripsv in successi-on to the bite ot' the feedwheel.

\Ve claim- 1. For forming heel-rands or runners, a machine, substantially as described, which crimps the thin edge ot' the leather strip and bends the strip into form.

2. Tile combination with an edge-feed wheel of two tace-wheels or collars, (between which the strip is received and fed,) a guard for keeping the strip in the curved path, and a stripper for releasing the forni-ed runner, all substantially as shown and described.

o. Vlhe guide piece n, provided with an angling un-A der-side, to dciiect and strip the rand after it has been crimped.

4. The combination, with a feeding mechanism coniposed of a throat or guide and feed-wheels, ot' bending and erilnping-wheels, substantially as described.

' SUMNER HOLMES.

JOS. l". SARGENT.

i nesses: W t

FRANCIS GoULn,

S. B. Kroner.. 

